Steering-gear.



`1.'P. LAVIGNE.

sTEEmN'G` GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 27| |914. 1,222,872.v

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Patented Apr. 17, 1917.

1.-?. LAVIGNE. STEERING GEAR. APPucATldN FILED nov.z1, |914.

, 1,222,872. l PmnfedApr. 17, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- .70.99% FZ@ W37 z 'then claimed.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH P. LVIGNE, 0F DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

STEERING-GEAR.

To all 'whom/t may concern.'

Be it known that l, J osnrn I. Lavicnn, acitizen of the United States ofAmerica.I residing at Detroit. in the county of lVayne and Sta-te ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements yinSteering-(tear, of which the following is a specifieation,'1-eferencebeing had therein to the accompanying drawings.

In Patent #993,326 granted May 23rd., 1911, there disclosed a steeringgear for n'iotor vehicles, wherein a threaded shaft is employed formoving .parts or sections of a nut in oppositedirections for impartingmovement to a rock shaft, which transmits motion to the steeringknuckles or other 'parts to be actuated by the steering gear.

The present invention is an improvement upon the above construe-tion andbesides having the same objects in view disclosed lin the above patent,the present invention anns to provide a novel. steering shaft and anoveltwo-part or sectional nutthat obviates tirenecessity of using amultiplicity of threads to transmit motionV from the shaft to the etweenthe steering shaft and the parts of the nut is such that lost motioncaused hy Wear is reduced to a minimum. This and other objects areattained by a durable and inexpensive 'mechanical construction that willbe hereinafter specifically described and In the ,drawing Figure 1 is asidy'elevation4 of a.v portion ofia. steering post, showing ,thesteering gear partly'in elevationand partly in longitudinal section;

"Fig, 2 ,is en enlarged transverse sectional vierv taken on the lineII--II of Fig. 1, an

Fig. 3f is a; similar View taken on vthe line IIIvI11o'Fig..1. f v

In. thedrawingsfl and2 denote the parts or halves of a cylindricalcasing having reduced ends 3 and 4h The parts or halves. of the casingare flanged, as at v5 and `the flanges thereof connected together bysierenT bolts 6, nuts 7 or other fastenin means.

vided with a bearing 8 for a hollow sha t or spindle 9, said .shaftextending longitudi-- nelly of the casin and having the lower endthereof journale in a bushing 1U mounted Speecation of Letters Patent.

' the periphery of each sleeve 1s Provided with The threaded connection.

The reduced end 3 of the casing is iro-- ,Patented Apr. 1v, 191.7.

Application led November 27, 1914. Serial No. 874,170.

lare the ordinaiy rod, tube and sleeves actu.-

ated at the steering wheel t'or (.:ontrolliup)l devices oi' the lnotyrr.

Keyed, splined, or otherwise mounted upon the holloww shaft 9, withinthe musing. are sleeves 13 t nd 1i, .said sleeves extendingr nto thereduced ends and .i of the casing. The sleeves 13 and 11 are spacedapa-rt and cross-cut or diamond-Shaper threads l5 forming right handscrew threads for one sleeve and left hand screw threads for the othersleeve.

Arranged in the reduced ends 3 and #lof the-'easingr are bushings orbearings 16 and journaled in Suid bearings are the Semi-cylindrical endlportions 17 of a two-part or sectional nut, the parts of the nut beingdesignated as 18 ant 19. One part of the nut has the semi-cylindricalend portions thereof provided with right hand 'screw threads and theother pari of the nut with left hand screw threads, the screw threadsmeshing withthe threads 15 of the sleeves 13- and 14, whereby when thehollow shaft 9 is rotated the two-halves of thefnut will be moved inopposite directions. Each half of the nut is formed with a transverseslot 21, said4 slots being formedin enlargements 22 intermedi'- Theslots 21 re-4 y ends of a cross head or plate 25 formed in.

tegral vwith a rock shaft 26 extending later- Ially outward 'zhrough abearing 27 at one side of .the casing. The cross head or plate 25 liesclose t) the side of the nut within a recess or off-set portion-28 ofthe part 2 of the casing.

lVhen the hollow shaft 9 is rotated to move one hall"v of .the nut inone direction and the other halt in the opposite direction, saidcross-header plate is turned to actuate the rock shaft by virtue of thestuds 24 extending into tl .e hearing blocks 23. which are carriedwithin the guide grooves 21 of the 'two parts of 'the nut and moved withsaid parts longitudinally of the shaft.

The outer `rnd of the rock shaft 26 has the expense incurred thereby;

t tively to the shaft, and

the ordinaryv crank 29 for transmitting motion to the steering knuckleor other part to be actuated by the steering gear.

Attention is directed' to the parts of the nut and. their threadedconnection with the 'hollow shaft 9. It has been found thatto screwthread the parts of the nut their entire length and 4thread. the shaftor use an elongated threaded sleeve that there is an inequality betweenthe threads at one end of the nut and the threads at the opposite end ofthe nut. It is ractically impossible to remove this inequality bymachining and consequently there is lost motion or friction, some timeslost motion at one end of the nut and undue friction at the opposite endthereof. To eliminate this troublesome feature in connection with asteering gear, also is the prin cipal object of my improvement, Iaccomplish satisfactory results, without sacrificing strength orrigidity, by using the sepavrated sleeves and simply interirly screwthreading the ends ofthe parts ofr the nut, "as clearly shown in Fig. l;In consequence of this' construction there 1s an even and uniform actionof the' parts of the nut relawhile I have herein illustrated oneembodiment by which this is accomplished, I desire it to be understoodthat the structural elements are susceptible to such variations andmodifications as fall within the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is :--l v In a steering gear, a casing, la, shaft ex-ltending longitudinally thereof and of one diameter throughout, sleevesspaced apart' on said shaft within said casingand adapted for rotationwith said shaft andjprovided with diamond threads, a sectional nutwithin said casing having the ends thereof journaled in the ends of saidcasing, the sections of said nut being in screw threaded engagement withthe diamond threads of said sleeves and devoid of screw threadselsewhere whereby one part of said nut is moved in one direction and theother part in another direction by a rotative movement of said shaft,and a rock shaft supported by said casing and having connection with theparts of said nut whereby said shaft is rocked by a movement of theparts of said nut.

In testimony whereof I aix my signature in presence ofv4 two witnesses.

JOSEPH r. LAVIGNE.

Witnesses AANNA M. Donn, G. MCGRANN.

